desert specials

every year, beginning in late february and lasting through early april, birders visiting anza-borrego state park are witness to a spectacle of nature that seems to be as little known as it is amazing to watch. it begins at dusk when large groups ('kettles') of migrating SWAINSON'S HAWKs descend on the desert plains surrounding the city of borrego – feeding, as the do, on newly hatched insects, both 'hawking' them in mid-air, and foraging for them on the ground.


for these birds, borrego is just a brief overnight refueling stop on a long journey from the steppes of argentina to its breeding grounds in the western united states and canada. after a night's roost on the open ground, the birds awake and begin the process of feeding and migration, again. watching as many as 500 of these incredible fliers take to the morning skies on hot air thermals, catching flying ants with mid-air acrobatics, is a sight that any nature lover located in san diego should make a point of seeing.


i arrived in borrego yesterday (3/30) at about 9am, and headed straight for a well know hawk-watch post. when i got there i was informed by a volunteer that i should head over toward clark dry lake, because he hadn't seen any SWAINSON'S HAWKs in hours. as i drove the stretch of road leading to the ancient lake i saw a state park ranger vehicle, with a ranger and volunteer outside, looking off into the distance. i pulled along side, got out, and scoped the area along with them. all we had was one bird, far off on the horizon. it was barely visible, and though i had only half expected to see any hawks (because of a report of zero birds from the day before), i was still a little disappointed. a few minutes later, however, over a distant ridge, i saw my first kettle of over twenty birds rising into the sky. i watched as they swirled into the air, diving to and fro, catching flying insects. before i knew it several birds had covered the seven or eight mile distance between the far off ridge and where i stood - feeding directly overhead. they were close enough that i could see the smallest details of their plumage, and really sear into my mind an exact mental image of how these birds looked, flew, and fed. throughout the morning we had over 420 hawks! as i ate my breakfast of fruit, trail-mix, and soft-boiled eggs, standing in a field of blossoming flowers, i thought to myself 'this might be the best breakfast i've ever had!'



yesterday morning i also stopped at the tamarisk grove campground, and the borrego sink where i was able to pick up these new year-birds:

WHITE-WINGED DOVE
PHAINOPEPLA
LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH
ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER
PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER
COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD
VERDIN
EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE
WILSON'S WARBLER
BLACK-THROATED SPARROW
HOODED ORIOLE
WESTERN KINGBIRD

along with SWAINSON'S HAWK (a lifer for me!) that's 13 new year birds, bringing my 2010 total to 155.

bird banding

last weekend (3/19-3/21) i attended a beginners bird banding class at audubon's starr ranch bird observatory in orange county. starr ranch is 4000 acres of largely untouched open space, flanked by 5000 acres of caspers regional park to the south, over one-hundred thousand acres of the cleveland national forest to the north and east, and the 1000 acre dove canyon housing development to the west. such a large track of wild space makes for an excellent place to observe nature, and the area is home to many species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals (including numerous mountain lions).

the two-day bird banding clinic consisted of several parts. First, was mist net handling, where we were shown proper set up, maintenance, and take down of our nets. second, was bird extraction, which consisted of "triage" - or assessing which birds are in the most vulnerable positions and extracting them accordingly. this was followed by different extraction techniques for removing entangled birds from the netting ("feet first", and "body pluck"). then came the actual practice of banding - which included bird handling (we learned two basic grips for passerines, the "bander’s grip", and the "photographer's grip"), ageing (by examining molt), determining sex and breeding status (by examining plumage, and looking for cloacal protuberances in males, and brood patches in females - both sexually determinant signs of breeding), measuring (weight, primary feather length, etc...), and choosing and placing the leg band properly. finally, we learned how to watch for signs that a birds is over-stressed.

in the afternoon, when banding had stopped, we spent time in the classroom learning about bird topology, molt, banding "dos and don'ts", bird first aid, and several other important bird related topics.

check out some pics from my weekend of bird banding below:

an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER caught in a mist net:


extraction of a COMMON YELLOW-THROAT:


yours truly banding a HOUSE WREN:


fully processed HOUSE WREN in the "bander’s grip" (notice the band on the right leg?):


HERMIT THRUSH in the "photographer’s grip" (used for photo-documentation of birds):


while there, participants were also able to witness the banding of a brood of four BARN OWLETTES. these birds were totally against being banded, and fought their captors viciously. the man pictured below had his hand mauled pretty badly a short time after this picture was taken. the bands used for these birds are industrial strength, and have a locking mechanism so the birds don't pry them off. our little passerine bands needed only to be crimped.

angry BARN OWLETTE:


all in all it was a great way to spend a weekend. i learned a great deal more about birds by actually handling them, then i would by just looking at them through bino's. future volunteer banding gigs will help take my understanding of birds, and my birding, to a whole new level.

the ghost bird

about six months ago, while on the freeway, driving home from my mom's house, i noticed a large white bird perched in a place where no large white bird should be perched - the side of a large, chaparral covered hill. at first i thought it might be a very out of place SNOWY EGRET, or even a WHITE-TAILED KITE. either way, i couldn't stop to look, because i was on the freeway. then, one week ago, i saw the same large white bird, perched in the same spot, while driving home from my mom's house on the same stretch of freeway. this time, however, the bird took off and soared around the hill and out of sight. seeing this short moment of flight was enough to make my brain shout "it's a RED-TAILED HAWK!". of course, because i try to be an ethical birder, i couldn't take that i.d. to the bank, and i vowed to scout the area better the next time i was up there. well, today (3/11) after visiting my mom again i decided to canvass the area with my eyes open and my binos handy. it took about four minutes for the bird to come soaring around the hill and into my field of view. it was an awesome, partially albino/leucistic RED-TAILED HAWK. i was elated that, 1) i was able to so easily relocate this bird, 2) that my i.d. was correct, and that 3) it was a 'rare' find.

leucistic RED-TAILED HAWK (not the one i saw, but one very similar)

tecolote project #3 (march)

today (3/8) i killed two birds with one stone (figuratively, of course). between 10:20am and 11:45am, while testing out/breaking in a new pair of boots in tecolote canyon, i had:

1 BLACK PHOEBE
6 HOUSE SPARROW
5 RAVEN
6 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
6 CALIFORNIA TOWHEE
2 SPOTTED TOWHEE
12 BUSHTIT
9 ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD
2 WRENTIT
6 SCRUB JAY
3 LESSER GOLDFINCH
1 COOPER'S HAWK
1 NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER
2 BEWICK'S WREN
1 HERMIT THRUSH
1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
1 COMMON YELLOW-THROAT
2 SONG SPARROW
1 CASSIN'S KINGBIRD

the birds weren't all that caught my attention, however. owing to the rain, large parts of the canyon were in pretty bad shape. new gullies - some more like slot canyons - had formed, complete with water falls and mini-rapids. much of the trail was slippery going, churned into a slimy mash by the treads and tracks of san diego waste water dept. vehicles. sdww is attempting to protect an exposed sewer pipe that lays in the bed of tecolote creek through some rudimentary hydrological engineering. basically, they're surrounding it with rip-rap and concrete, and shoring up any areas close to it with huge boulders wrapped in chain link fence. this acts an un-erodible bank, keeping the earth that supports the pipe from washing away. unfortunately, it is completely changing the hydrology of the surrounding area by forcing erosion problems further up or down stream. a sewage spill would be far worse than the damage caused by the repair crew, but it still sucks to roads through the canyon where there were once single-tract trails, and turn outs where there was once only vegetation. i'm also afraid that the newly bare ground will be taken over by more aggressive non-native plants, especially since they have been hydro-seeding heavily in the area. the seeds they usually use in this process are not native. instead, it's designed to grow quick and stabilize the earth.
but i digress...

that's 19 species on a mostly cloudy, sometimes drizzly, and always cool morning. hopefully i'll be able to get out and survey another part of the canyon this month, and find some new birds.

along with LESSER GOLDFINCH, my positive i.d. of a GREAT HORNED OWL, calling from the top of an old sycamore at dusk two evenings ago, we have a new total of 36 species.

GREAT HORNED OWL:

hummers

the male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD: freak of the sky.



seeing an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD do it's mating display is really an amazing thing - even if you don't realize it right away. first, the male spots a perched female. next, he gets into her line of sight and starts his slow ascent, rising straight up into the air, about 50 to 100 feet. then, he suddenly plunges, executing an amazing high-speed, 'j' shaped dive. the bottom of which occurs right in front of and above the female's head. it is at this point the an observer will hear one of nature's stranger phenomenas - a very loud, high-pitched 'chirp'.

for years birders and ornithologists wondered and debated over the source of that 'chirp'. recently, thanks to researchers at UC Berkeley, we now know that the male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD creates this bizarre noise by spreading its tail feathers at the bottom of its 'j' shaped dive, and that the wind passing through them at high speed produces this amazing sound.



unfortunately i couldn't get a sound recording of the 'chirp', but here is a good pic, and video...

thank you UC Berkeley:

tecolote project #2, supplemental list

month two and the tecolote project has already faltered - but it will not fail! for several reasons (school, work, other things to do, and uncooperative weather) i wasn't able to get down into the canyon this month to do a proper bird count. don't fret though, because i am able to piece together a supplemental count list from backyard observations, and a single, short foray down into the canyon. this month i was able to add 7 new species to my tecolote year list. and they are:

COMMON YELLOW-THROAT (frequenting the backyard compost bin)
GREAT BLUE HERON
AMERICAN KESTREL
HERMIT THRUSH (several displaying,calling individuals in one creek-side spot)
COOPER'S HAWK
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
RED-SHAFTED FLICKER (family of four seen in cayon from backyard)
MALLARD
HOUSE WREN
CEDAR WAXWING (frequenting tree in neighbor's backyard)

this brings me to 34 species so far.

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:



also, today (3/2) while hiking mt. woodson for a second, less painful time, i was able to hear the unmistakable call of the beautiful, but elusive CANYON WREN (year bird 141 for me...) below is a picture, and video of this awesome bird giving its characteristic call.